Two people recently wrote to O'Reilly to complain about the lack of an index in the second edition of XML Pocket Reference (both noting that there was an index in the first edition). As the editor in chief at O'Reilly & Associates, I'd like to respond to those comments.

I'm the culprit here. The authors would have been happier had an index been included, as would other readers. I felt, however, that the pocket references were useful without the indexes and we've stopped including them. The first emailer, Matt, asked, "Was the thinking, 'It's a pocket reference--if you need an index, we haven't done our job?'" That was the thinking, or close to it. For a 100-page book with a logical structure and a table of contents, the increased value that an index brings to the book is limited. I don't doubt that there is some additional value that the index would contribute, but I don't think an index is a necessary element in a pocket reference. (The pocket reference format is like a fleshed-out index, in my view.)

The first edition of XML Pocket Reference came out before I'd made this decision; the second edition came out after my decision.

Matt also points out that we were profligate in the inclusion of blank pages in the back of the second edition of XML Pocket Reference. That's true, but unpredictable; we use full signatures, and when a book turns out to be a certain unlucky length, we have a bunch of blank pages at the back.

We could, presumably, have used those pages for an index, but by the time we knew how much of the final signature we'd use, it was too late to schedule the creation of the index. Furthermore, the decision not to include an index was not entirely based on the cost of the additional pages. We have four indexers on staff and a couple of contract indexers, and they can barely keep up with the work on our larger books. Indexing is both a science and an art, and we have to use our indexers judiciously. We decided that pocket references were the books least in need of indexes, so we skip them and let the indexers work on making our large books more searchable.

So, it was partially a business decision and partially an editorial decision. With every book, with every product, we make decisions about where to stop. Doing without indexes isn't popular, but I think you'll agree that the second edition of XML Pocket Reference is useful as it is.

Sincerely,

Frank Willison
Editor-in-Chief
O'Reilly & Associates

Return to: Frankly Speaking

Copyright © 2007 O'Reilly Media, Inc.